Following Tiffany’s Footsteps in Cuba

Earlier this year, I began collaborating with Mirell Vázquez Montero on an exploratory research project in Cuba, aimed at identifying and analyzing stained-glass works connected to Tiffany Studios and to artists who worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany and later undertook personal commissions on the island. These works—often undocumented—reflect the close artistic and commercial ties between the United States and Cuba at the turn of the twentieth century, a moment when New York’s decorative arts exerted its influence across the Caribbean.

Mirell Vázquez Montero

Mirell Vázquez Montero is uniquely qualified to lead this effort. She holds a degree in Historic and Cultural Heritage Management and has dedicated her professional life to the study, restoration, and preservation of stained glass in Havana. Trained through the Escuela Taller de La Habana, she has been instrumental in identifying, cataloguing, and conserving historic stained-glass windows throughout the city, while also mentoring a new generation of restorers. Her work combines scholarly research with hands-on conservation practice, and she is deeply embedded in Cuba’s heritage preservation landscape.

Our collaboration began with the goal of tracing how artists associated with Tiffany Studios—either directly or through professional networks in New York—may have carried their techniques, aesthetics, and materials into Cuban commissions. The project seeks not only to identify individual works, but to understand their broader context: who commissioned them, who executed them, and how they relate to the intense cultural, economic, and artistic exchange between New York and Cuba during this period.

Mirell Vázquez Montero

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control—including a recent outbreak of mosquito-borne illnesses on the island—I was forced to cancel a planned research trip in December. While disappointing, this interruption has not diminished the importance of the work or the strength of the collaboration.

As we move into this year, I sincerely hope to resume the project we began together, returning to Cuba to continue the careful process of documentation and analysis. Following the footsteps of Tiffany in Cuba is not simply a matter of attribution, but an effort to better understand how American decorative arts circulated within a uniquely Cuban context, leaving traces that still survive today.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. Virginia Edmund of Richmond, whose generous contribution has made this exploratory work possible. Her support has been instrumental in allowing this project to take shape and move forward, and it is deeply appreciated.